Local authority’s admission could mean bleak budget ahead

Bath and North East Somerset Council has warned this week that it will have to make difficult financial decisions over the coming years as it struggles to balance its budget. The autumnal caution comes early; preparing residents for the worst, with the Council due to set its budget in February 2018. More and more it is relying on local people to volunteer for services that the local authority was once able to provide, and to try and reinvent such services to ensure that they survive.

Almost three quarters of all councils in England that deliver social care are struggling to balance their budgets, and are overspending, and most have already made cuts to frontline services. Bath and North East Somerset Council says it has managed to avoid this so far, whilst continuing to be regarded as a good authority in key areas by independent inspectors. However, it will almost certainly continue to come up against opposition, and has had to look again at its library plan, after a recent consultation showed residents strongly opposed to the idea of Bath library moving (more on this on Page 10), and the imminent arrival of fortnightly waste collections, set to go live from 6th November, which is causing great discussion in our Letters columns and Facebook page.

Speaking about the financial challenges, Cllr Charles Gerrish (Conservative, Keynsham North) Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, said: “In Bath and North East Somerset, currently 75 pence out of every pound in the Council’s budget is spent on adult social care and children’s services. We predict this will rise to a minimum of 80 pence in every pound by the end of the year and could rise higher.

“Our community expects us to prioritise support for vulnerable people; this means all our other services will have to be funded from what’s left. This will be extremely challenging, but we still aim to deliver high quality services into the future.

“We are continuing to scrutinize our spending and transform the way we do things to save money, but we also need to work together with the local community and encourage those who live and work here to play their part.

“It is in everyone’s interest that services are provided to those who most need them, and local people have a vital role to play in ensuring the money the Council has to spend on services goes further. Everyone can help; be it through recycling, helping neighbours and family, or by volunteering.”

Demand for services and costs are rapidly rising, while the grant received from the Government continues to reduce. This is happening as part of the effort to reduce the national deficit, and Councils are now seeking to replace lost grant funding with money from the Business Rates growth, New Homes Bonus, commercial income and further efficiencies, but also to prioritise expenditure.

The Council needs to save an extra £16.2m by April 2020. This is on top of the £14.8m worth of savings already planned over the same period. The £14.8m of savings are part of a successful four year programme (2016–2020) to achieve £42m of savings including an extra £7m from commercial and trading income.

A Council spokesperson said: “The challenge ahead is unprecedented in local government and for this Council. Even after the next two years, there will be more to do. This demands radical solutions,

because the savings already made or planned mean that we have no ‘easy’ options, and the Council will not be able to do everything that it currently does.

“The population of Bath and North East Somerset is growing; by 2020 it will have risen by 4% from 2016 as a result of 5,500 new homes and increasingly longer life spans. The population is also changing, and as people live longer, they are often living with one or more long-term conditions, requiring help and support, meaning the Council has to arrange and deliver increasingly complex packages of care. This trend is set to continue.

“Many people now live alone, with limited access to support from family and friends, and this means that this responsibility increasingly falls to the Council and local Health Services.

“The Council has to make further changes so it can still cover the growing demand and rising costs for things like children’s safeguarding, services for adults with learning disabilities and children with special educational needs, for which the authority has a primary statutory responsibility. On top of this, external pressures have caused a number of care home closures, leading to our having to find

alternative and often more expensive placements for the vulnerable residents affected.

“This year’s budget is also under pressure. The demand for children’s services and adult social care has already increased above that budgeted for, and is part of the future pressure. By the planned use of ‘one-off’ funds and careful financial arrangements, we will be able to manage for this year. The remaining budgets are predicted to perform to around 1% of their target.”

As a result, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet is being asked to approve an updated five year financial plan. The new plan will include a review of priorities to look at whether further savings can be made, targeting capital spending to priority areas, maximising contract savings and income opportunities, reviewing the options for additional shared services, and more closely managing demand in services, such as children and adult care. If approved, the plan will be reviewed annually.

The Council wants to hear local people’s views on how best the authority can balance its budget and these can be shared at the following Forums due to be held in November and December. They will be held locally at Midsomer Norton on 29th November at 6 p.m., with others taking place including at Freshford Village Memorial Hall on 15th November at 6 p.m., The Kaposvar Room at the Guildhall, Bath, on 22nd November at 6 p.m., The Council Chamber at the Guildhall, Bath, on 27th November at 6 p.m., Community Space in Keynsham on 30th November at 6.30 p.m., and at Chew Valley School, Chew Magna, on 4th December at 6 p.m.

The Lib-Dems have been scathing about the financial challenges that the local authority face, blaming financial mismanagement and the persual of unpopular plans. Councillor Andrew Furse, (Lib-Dem, Kingsmead), commented: “Whichever way it is sliced, the Conservatives are clearly not able to plan their budgets, either nationally or locally. Residents in B&NES are being softened up for a shocker of a cut in services and increase in Council Tax next February, due to local mismanagement of Children’s Services and Adult Social Care budgets.

“After being warned against wasting money on the East of Bath Park and Ride, and further money on ill-thought-through library service changes, they now realise they have difficulty in balancing their budgets. Clearly, the local Conservatives running B&NES have no friends in Westminster. Much of this tough financial climate is of their own making.

“Adult social care is in financial trouble through the failure of the Conservatives to properly plan for growing adult social services and stopping the closure of care homes.”